


Immorality Of A Leader

by Nadja_Lee



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Corruption, Dubious Morality, F/M, M/M, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-11-17
Updated: 2001-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22852714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee
Summary: Scott visits Erik in prison and sees some truths he never questioned before.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Jean Grey/Scott Summers, Logan/Rogue (X-Men)
Kudos: 167





	Immorality Of A Leader

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Sorcieré; for giving me the idea, for being such a wonderful friend and for just being herself. Thanks sugah!

**Immorality Of A Leader**

Scott walked down the dark prison hall and tried to avoid eye contact with the men whose cells he passed. For the 100th time at least he wondered what in the world he was doing here. What had possessed him to come here? What could he possibly gain by this? What could he possibly learn from this? And forbidden was the thought; what if he learned a truth he wasn't ready to face?

"Hey, pretty boy. Come keep me warm at night," one of the inmates called after him and the other prisoners laughed and called after him as well. In your dreams, Scott thought darkly as the guard who walked in front of him unlocked a big plastic door by the end of the hallway. As Scott entered a small plastic room and the door to the other prisoners glided shut Scott drew a deep breath. So far so good.

"Place all metal objects here. They'll be returned to you when you leave," the guard said and Scott took off his silver necklace with a cross he always wore inside his shirt.

"That's all," he said.

"The glasses, your belt, your shoes," the guard asked.

"There is no metal in them."

"Alright. You may enter then," the guard lead him to another door and as Scott walked through the door was closed behind him. The room was small and surrounded by plastic walls. He could see 4 guards watching through the plastic into the room. In the room were only two chairs and a table; all of plastic of course. But it wasn't the room that interested Scott but the man who sat in the chair furthest away from the door. The room seemed to sitter with his very presence. He was a man in his late 50's or early 60's, long white/silver hair and intelligent blue/grey eyes that seemed to see everything. He looked relaxed yet at guard at the same time.

"Magneto," Scott acknowledged as he steeped forth and sat opposite Magneto. Erik gave a half smile.

"And me who was looking forth to playing some chess with Charles."

"Xavier said to tell you he'll come by next weekend," Scott said and didn't know what else to say.

"So, what brings you here? Surely you're not here just to tell me that Charles couldn't make it today?" Erik asked with light amusement in his voice. Scott's red glance met Erik's steel grey eyes.

"No. I came for answers."

"It'll help if I knew the questions," again that smile which were being to annoy Scott. He had a strange feeling that Magneto was enjoying this.

"Why? I want to understand why?" Scott asked. It had been plaguing him for so long. He needed to know.

"Do you really want to understand my reasons, Summers, or do you only want to find peace of mind?"

"I…I really want to understand. I *need* to understand what made you and Xavier choose two so different paths," Scott explained.

"Has Charles told you about our history together? About my past?" Erik asked lightly but Scott knew there was more to the question then that.

"He told me you were once friends but drifted apart."

"That's all?"

"Yes," Scott admitted and that was one of the reasons he was here. He wanted to know what had happened between the man who had been like a father to him and then this man who sat before him.

"He hasn't changed," there was a hint of sadness to Erik's voice.

"Xavier?"

"Yes."

"What happened?" Scott asked softly.

"Well, since Charles apparently doesn't want to tell you the truth I might as well. Maybe it'll make you see that you're following a dream which can never come true and that you're fighting in blind," Erik said harshly.

"´The dream is…"Scot automatically began to defend Xavier but Erik raised a hand and stopped him.  
"Do you want to hear this or not?"

"I do."

"Then shut up and let me show you the truth though I doubt you'll like it."

"Go on," Scott urged. There were silence for a while as Erik considered how to start.  
"I was born in Poland in 1934 by Jewish parents. The war came…and we were arrested. We were taken to Auschwitz," Erik tried to keep his voice even and forced down the memories of death and fear the name brought to his mind.

"My God," Scott whispered horrified. Now he could much better understand Magneto's fear and arguments. What this man must have lived through…Scott gained enormous respect for Magneto right there.

"I was separated from my parents. It was discovered that I could control metal and the Nazi doctors found that rather fascinating," hatred had entered his voice now.

"They experimented on you," Scott guessed and Erik nodded.

"When the Allies freed the camp after the war my family was dead, my home was destroyed and my country was occupied. I had nothing to go back to. I went to the US. There I went to university, became a doctor and went to work in a hospital. It was there I met Charles," Erik continued and a rare warmth had entered his voice on that word.

"Xavier worked as a doctor?!" Scott asked surprised. He hadn't known Xavier had a degree in medicine but on the other hand he hadn't known he had met Magneto in a hospital either. Magneto as a doctor, saving lives…it put a whole new spin on things, a whole new perspective he hadn't seen before…Magneto as Erik; the man…the saviour.

"No, he worked there as a psychologist, believe it or not," Erik grinned as if he remembered something funny. "Anyway, I moved into his mansion and for a time things were good."

"Wait a minute. Xavier is…you and he…" Scott uttered shocked.

"The word you're looking for is lovers," Erik laughed at Scott's shocked expression. "Didn't figure that one out, did you?"  
"Well, I…" Scott began but didn't know what to say. Erik's eyes suddenly got very cold.

"Is this a problem for you? Me and Charles?"

"No. I have no problem with it. Only…" he began but then looked away and mumbled: "Only his lack of faith in me."

"Charles never did trust anyone. It's a killer on a relationship, believe me on that."

"I know," Scott whispered.

"You and the red-haired doctor broke up?" Magneto guessed and Scott looked sharply at him. For a moment he considered rather or not to tell the truth.

"Yes. I didn't like the way she acted around L…another guy and she didn't like my 'possessiveness' as she called it," Scott settled with.

"Speaking of your resident hero…how is Wolverine these days?" Magneto asked casually. Maybe too casually.

"Fine. He returned to the mansion four months ago."

"And he's with your girl now?" Magneto probed.

"No. He's with Rogue," Scott explained. Magneto looked puzzled.

"The girl with the killer skin," Scott explained almost angrily. Couldn't he even remember her name?!

"Oh, Marie," Magneto nodded understanding. "Ever since I saw the look of murder in his eyes I knew his feelings for the girl were deeper than simple friendship."

"Marie? That's her real name?" Scott asked softly. The name fit her; sweet and youthful…like she.

"She didn't tell you I gather? They don't tell you much, do they?"

"Shut up," Scott mumbled through clashed teeth, not wanting Magneto to know just how much all this lack of trust in him hurt him.

"Silence can speak volumes too," Erik said knowingly.

"So, what destroyed your relationship with Xavier?" Scott asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Too different childhoods, too different ideologies…humans. Take your pick," Erik said and let Scott change the subject.

"How so?"

"Charles has always had everything; old money, a mansion almost as big as Buckingham Palace, respect…he can afford a dream, he can afford to be blind. Can you?"

"I'm not following you," Scott said guarded.

"I've checked your past, Summers. You never had any money, no family…nothing. You were a street child with no past and no future when Charles found you and moulded you into being what he wanted you to be. But what of you? Have you ever thought about what you're doing? If it really makes as much sense as Charles wants you to think?" Magneto's eyes seemed to bore through Scott's red glasses and into his soul.

"He saved me. I owe it to him," Scott began and wished he had more to add. Why did he fight for Xavier? What kind of dream was he following? And why had he never questioned it before? He had been a kid when Xavier had found him but now he was old enough to think for himself. Why had he been so afraid to do so? Did he fear the answers he would find within himself?

"So you're fighting for Charles, for his dream, you're rising your own life and that of your team-mates…for a debt you feel you owe him?" Erik questioned and raised an eyebrow at him.

"No. I mean yes…No," Scott began confused. He shouldn't have come here. Things had been so simple before. So simple.

"Okay. Let's try something else. Charles hates motorcycles and you?"

"I love 'em," Scott admitted.

"Charles loves the opera and you?"

"I love the cinema," Scott said and feared he knew were Magneto were going with this.

"Charles opposites the death penalty. He thinks everyone deserves a second chance. And you?"

"I…" the words wouldn't come from his lips.

"Your parents were murdered, were they not?" Magneto bore.

"Yes," Scott whispered pained.

"And the murderer was never found?"

"No."  
"What would you do with this man should you find him?"

"I'd kill him," Scott whispered and forced the words over his lips. How many nights hadn't he thought about how sweet revenge would be?

"I didn't hear that," Erik said with a small smile and Scott knew he was baiting him.

"I'd kill him. I'd kill him with my bare hands! Happy now?!" Scott almost shouted. Erik shook his head.

"No, I'm not nor will I ever be happy but I can make sure what happened to me and you won't ever happen again."  
"By killing all humans?! That's your big plan?" Scott said disgusted.

"I see Charles have been telling you more half truths. My intention has never been and will never be to kill all humans but merely to ensure that all mutants are safe. THAT is my main priority."  
"And the machine you built? You almost killed Rogue!"

"I'm sorry for that. I really didn't want to hurt her but in every war there're casualties. How long do you think it'll be before you loose someone when on a mission? The X-men are fighting an impossible battle; you're fighting both mutants and humans alike. Can't you see that in the war there is to come, and believe me, it will come, there are no room for neutrals?" Erik asked.

"Why do you say there is a war coming?" Scott questioned. Xavier had always told him they could prevent a war.

"You have always seemed like an intelligent man, Summers. Don't let Charles's daydreams make you blind. The anti mutant groups in politics are gaining more and more votes as we speak, there're more killings, lynchings, mistreatments and harassments of mutants than ever before and things are just getting started. With the new bill they're discussing, the Mutant Registration Act, we're heading for a new war, a new Holocaust. I've been a number, Summers, and I never want to be one again," as he spoke Erik pulled up his shirt sleeve on his right arm and Scott could see the Auschwitz prison number burned into his skin.

"But we…the X-men…" Scot tried again. Magneto was beginning to make sense to him and that was scaring him more than anything else.

"You can what? Save the world? Make all racists suddenly see the light of reason? You're four people; an African weather witch, a doctor, a madman with claws and then you; a leader with fire eyes. You're all powerful mutants but none of you are THAT powerful. Not even if Charles tried to alter their minds could you make the hostilities go away. Face facts, Summers: there's a war coming and the X-men are standing in the middle and will go first. See yourself as the man who's trying to keep a big stone from rolling down a mountain; no matter how hard you try sooner or later it WILL roll over you and destroy you," Erik explained and Scott unconsciously nodded. It was making sense. It was all making a freighting amount of sense.

How could he have been so blind? Why hadn't he ever thought things through before? Why had he blindly trusted Xavier? Love? Loyalty? A sense of duty?

Scott looked Erik directly in the eyes.

"You're right. There's a war coming. You're also right, the X-men can't stop it. So, what's YOUR solution?" Scott questioned and found he had finally admitted what he had felt for a while; Xavier's dream was NOT his own. Was Erik's or should he search for his own dream?  
"My solution is simple. We're mutants and they're humans. They'll never accept us as equals because they fear us too much and man always destroys what he fears. We have to strike at them before they strike at us," Erik said and hammered his fist down unto the table for good measure.

"You want to kill all humans?" Scott asked again.  
"No. Haven't you been listening? We're at war. I'll not lie like Charles. There'll be losses, also civil losses but no wars are without casualties. I do not wish as many deaths as possible; I've seen enough death to last me a lifetime but should the situation occur…I'd rather see 30 people die than 30000, wouldn't you? You're a logical man, a mathematical man even. Isn't it better to lose 30 than 30000?"

"Yes, but I'll rather none died," Scott protested.

"That's more of Charles's dream and that's all it is; a dream. It can never be anything but a dream. In a war someone WILL die, sacrifices MUST be made. That is the way of things. I'll also rather no one died but I'll also like for my family and all the other 11 million people who were brutally murdered during WW2 to be alive today but they aren't. Dreams are good for nothing save misleading people," Erik told him flatly.

"So you don't have a dream?"

"No. I have an idea. I have a goal. My goal is to save mutantkind from more cruelty, to stop a new holocaust," Erik said and sounded tired.

"How do you normally go about doing that?" Scott asked curiously. Erik's arguments were making sense to him. A lot of sense. Erik laughed out loud.

"I bet Charles told you the Brotherhood eat children for dinner and then dump a nuke over the White House for dessert?"  
"Almost," Scott admitted and smiled himself.

"Normally we look for trouble, injustice done against mutants and then we intervene. Anything from destroying 'secret' FBI labs where they experiment on mutants to saving a mutant from a murderous hob of humans," Erik explained.

"How many members are you?" Scott wanted to know. They couldn't just be four…could they?

"I have more members than Raven, Victor and Toad. Many mutants support my ideas but don't fight for me. They give me information instead but that's just as valuable. Knowledge…"

"...is power," Scott finished for him and Erik nodded and smiled.

"That's right."

For a while neither said anything then Scott asked:  
"I need to know only one more thing; do you kill innocents? Torture people?"

"No, never. I've seen enough injustice in my life to add to it myself. But," Erik warned, "if I need information from someone I *will* get it, one way or another. I prefer a non bloody way but if there's no other way…" Erik let the sentence hang in the air, knowing Scott would know what he meant.

"I understand," Scott said soberly. Erik looked intensely at him.

" Do you? Do you really?"

"Yes, I do…Erik," Scott said softly and stretched out his hand to the other man over the table. Erik smiled.

"Glad to hear that…Scott," Erik said and the two men shook hands.

"So…" Scott said and stood up. Erik looked questionably at him but stood up at well.

"So what?" Erik inquired.

"Well, I can't let you sit here now that I've seen that your fight is one I can understand, now can I?" Scott grinned.

"What will you do?"

"Show you why I'm called 'Cyclops'," Scott said and turned towards the wall he knew faced the outer wall.

"If I didn't know better I'll think you're enjoying this," Erik said amused.

"I'm relived. I feel like I've seen the light for the first time," Scott explained and knew nothing could explain the feeling of suddenly having all the pieces to a puzzle fall together, to finally feel you know who and what you are, to finally feel you belong.

"Stand back," Scott ordered and Erik did so as Scott lifted his glasses and a beam of red energy left his eyes and blasted through the plastic wall and all through the outer wall to the outside.

"Fresh air. How wonderful," Erik breathed deeply and felt his powers fill him as the magnetism around him entered his body and made him feel whole again. Alarms went off and projectors were turned towards the hole in the wall.

"Now, I made the escape route can you get us out?" Scott asked and watched as guards were to open the door to the room where he and Erik stood. Erik stretched out his hand and the metal handle on the outside of the door melted and locked the guards out.

"No problem," Erik said and went to the hole in the wall and walked right into thin air…and floated. He stretched out his hand towards Scott. "Will you come with me? Fight with me? Will you join me?"

For a split second Scott seemed uncertain then he smiled and went to the hole and took Erik's hand.

"Yes. I'll join you," Scott promised and Erik smiled.

"Good," he said and made Scott fly next to him and they flew away from the prison. Some of the guards shot after them but the bullets bounced off on Erik's metal shield that covered both him and Scott.

Soon, they were out of range and flew towards Erik's headquarters.

The Brotherhood had gotten their leader back…and a new member.

The End


End file.
